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PLF files supplemental brief in the Virginia Obamacare lawsuit

May 31, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently asked the parties to that state’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Individual Mandate to write some extra briefs about whether the Individual Mandate is a tax and if so whether the courts have the authority to hear the case at all, under the Tax … ...

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Interesting Obamacare lawsuit development

May 27, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur The federal government has asked the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss the Thomas More Law Ctr. v. Obama case as moot, because one of the plaintiffs in that case has obtained health insurance. ACA Litigation Blog has the story. For those keeping track, the Thomas More case is the case … ...

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More Delta hyperbole

May 26, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Columnist Michael Fitzgerald of The Stockton Record ran this vituperation yesterday excoriating the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for allowing millions of Sacramento splittail to be destroyed by the water pumps in the south Delta.  Setting aside the obviously intemperate and unreasonable tone of ...

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First came the tornadoes, then came the regulators

May 25, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur How land-use restrictions are hurting the Alabamans who lost their homes in the recent tornadoes. … ...

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The case against TIF

May 25, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, is the trick that bureaucrats use to finance massive redevelopment projects that include condemning small businesses and homes and giving the land to politically well-connected private developers. Randall O'Toole, an expert on urban planning and transportation policy, has a critical new ...

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D.C. Obamacare appeal—semantics, implied powers, and why even Hamilton’s on our side

May 23, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur Today, Pacific Legal Foundation, along with six other pro-freedom groups, filed this brief in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals opposing the constitutionality of the Individual Mandate. (It’s the third friend of the court brief we’ve filed in this litigation, after the Fourth and Eleventh Circuit cases that we b ...

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A final response from Andrew Coulson

May 20, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Joshua Thompson I have been away from the office, and haven't had a chance to post Andrew Coulson's latest reply to some minor critiques I leveled against his Philadelphia Inquirer piece.  Here is my initial critique, Mr. Coulson's response, and my susbequent reply.  I'll give Mr. Coulson the final word, you can ...

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Hillsdale College seminar on economic liberty and the Constitution

May 20, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur Hillsdale College's Kirby Center held a Town Hall event on the Constitution and economic liberty in April. Among the speakers were Professor Paul Moreno and Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn. … ...

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Is the New York Times out to lunch again?

May 19, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Recently, the Times ran an oped applauding the EPA and the Corps for producing a new Rapanos guidance and urging the agencies to codify the new proposed guidance in regulatory form.  (My colleague Reed Hopper has previously posted his own trenchant thoughts on the same oped).  The Times's point of vie ...